Medieval Needle's Stitchings

Melanie Simmonds is a needle artist who specializes in cross stitch, knitting and beadwork. She lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sorry for not posting

The last thing in the world I needed to happen did - I got sick. I've got bronchitis with a sinus infection and so have had to stay well away from mom and the hospital since I left on Saturday night. Probably shouldn't have been there Saturday but what can I do.....

Anyway, I can't go near her until at least tomorrow. I'll have been on antibiotics for 3 days then and should be safe.

All I know:

Mom has a small blood clot in her lung. They are treating it with blood thinners. She is still having lots of trouble breathing. It appears that the chemo killed off much of the tumor in her lung. It is still in the spine, but I have no idea how much. As for the bleeding - no answers. Also she has had some tests on her heart for irregular heartbeat and that has been medicated as well. I'm trying to get a little more info from the doctors today and will post what I find out.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mom update - hospital

Mom was admitted to Methodist Germantown yesterday. On Friday night dad called me and said she was bleeding from somewhere. We all thought it was in her urine. Saturday the pain in her back was bad and she wanted to go to the ER, so dad drove her and I sat with her from 1:00 until 9:00 last night. The blood is not in her urine, so it is coming from somewhere else down there. If you feel the desperate need for more detail, email me. They are going to do some further tests, and they did an MRI and an ultrasound last night. Her cancer doc came to see her while we were there and wants a brain scan due to some vision changes (I think he is looking to see if it has metastasised to her brain). The bleeding is not a good sign and she may also have bleeding internally so they want to probably do a scope for that.

I will keep you posted and you can call or email if you want her room number. They only plan to keep her a couple of days - so she should go home Monday or Tuesday if all goes well.

She does have a bladder infection, and they are treating that with antibiotics but that is all that we know for sure at this time.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Mom update

Mom is doing ok - she just finished her last chemo. She's more sick with this one than ever before, but we hope it will pass. She cannot have any more chemo after this, but they may do some other treatments.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

News on mom

Mom got the results of her scan yesterday. They were good. Exceptional, in fact. Her numbers were high enough she could have started her chemo yesterday, but is holding off until Monday and doing it next week. This will be her last chemo. However, she thinks she may try some experimental stuff after that since she's doing so well. She's going to keep fighting.